General Info

HK stops PAL flights for 2 weeks.

[URL]https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/08/31/2123716/hong-kong-bans-pal-flights-2-weeks?fbclid=IwAR1YCMlfMlEv8qGXgUnNhyZrjE7XaP9L-cd5AiWsRLK9w9LKaO6_K6TopGg[/URL]

From the article:

[I]The two-week ban, according to the South China Morning Post report, was imposed after three of the seven COVID-19 cases confirmed in Hong Kong on Sunday were found to have come from PALs flight PR300 from Manila.

PAL said all three passengers, two Filipinos and one Chinese national, presented negative COVID-19 test results when they checked in for their flight.[/I]

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2598877]
Manila's MECQ extends for 2 more weeks.[/QUOTE]One week only until 7th. (For now).

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2598877]Six-day analysis, August 21 to August 27, for Delta. Cases up from 1273 to 1789, a 40% increase. Deaths up from 26 to 33, a 27% increase.

Dishonorable mention for P-3 variant: Cases up from 388 to 429, a 10% increase. The others are up about 5%.

Manila's MECQ extends for 2 more weeks.[/QUOTE]There was a piece on the news here (US) a few nights ago that some governments are taking a approach "learn to live with it" as far as COVID goes. This appears to be a sane policy moving forward. What some of these countries are doing is just crazy. Example. Deaths up to 26 and 33 . Really?? How many people live in Manila 15 million or so and 33 died. WOW! 33. I bet more die in car wrecks and other accidents than that. You cannot shut these countries down because someone might die. People die everyday from various things. But look though who is really dying. The old, sick and obese. Do the healthy die, sometimes but usually they recover. It will need to become the common flu which kills people every year and no one blinks a eye, if not this will never end. COVID will never completely go away. What they are doing is insane and destroying their people and their economies'.

[QUOTE=Locamotive;2599463]Deaths up to 26 and 33 . Really?? How many people live in Manila 15 million or so and 33 died. WOW! 33. I bet more die in car wrecks and other accidents than that. You cannot shut these countries down because someone might die.[/QUOTE]I agree with you that a learn to live with it approach will be necessary before too many people starve to death. It would be interesting (perhaps a little morbid) to compare deaths from increased poverty to Covid19 deaths over the last 2 years. Especially so in poor economies like PI with no safety nets.

Unfortunately, your comparison to MVAs is not too applicable as a crashed car doesn't ricochet off and cause 3 other accidents. It's the exponential growth that has the authorities worried and why draconian remedies are being put in place. Look at how many areas went from few to thousands of cases in the blink of an eye. The biggest concern is if the disease spreads so much that it over runs limited heath services and then the sick can't even be treated and any form of control then falls apart: reports of India and Indonesia running out of oxygen, and PI running out of nurses.

Hopefully, we don't get too many mutations, vaccines limit the spread so that those that are sick can be treated before they infect others, reasonable controls can be put in place and be effective, and then the gates to Nirvana can reopen.

Fuckk I need a holiday. 😁.

[QUOTE=Locamotive;2599463]Example. Deaths up to 26 and 33 . Really??[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Goferring;2599513]Unfortunately, your comparison to MVAs is not too applicable as a crashed car doesn't ricochet off and cause 3 other accidents. It's the exponential growth that has the authorities worried and why draconian remedies are being put in place. Look at how many areas went from few to thousands of cases in the blink of an eye. The biggest concern is if the disease spreads so much that it over runs limited heath services and then the sick can't even be treated and any form of control then falls apart: reports of India and Indonesia running out of oxygen, and PI running out of nurses.[/QUOTE]See pic. I think G is correct, the problem is not the number of deaths, it is the rapid growth rate. Over the six days mentioned, that was 27%. For a 7-day rate, that would be 30-31% (4. 5% per day). On my handy-dandy spreadsheet, I started with 33 deaths. I increased that weekly by 30%. While 33 deaths might be considered small in one week against 15 million people, unchecked after 6 months (24 weeks) that will be almost 18,000 deaths per week. That's just for Delta. I would say anyone would be crazy not to invest their money at this rate if they could.

[QUOTE=Locamotive;2599463]There was a piece on the news here (US) a few nights ago that some governments are taking a approach "learn to live with it" as far as COVID goes. This appears to be a sane policy moving forward. What some of these countries are doing is just crazy.[/QUOTE]I think you are on to something. Duterte and other leaders have hinted at such. As you have many countries with a large % of their populations who won't consider vaccinating (regardless their reasons), eventually we all have to learn to live with it (no different than the flu). Do continued lockdowns stop the inevitable? Slow the inevitable? At what cost?

Added weight for this. I was reading an article last week with those stats, I wish I'd saved the link, ABS-CBN I think. They were running down the changes from ECQ to MECQ. The end of the article said that the IATF, the government's medical / science crew that makes recommendations on lockdown severity, has realized that the recent ECQ lockdown did not see the previous drops in covid cases. Cases went up even with a stricter curfew, alcohol bans, quarantine passes, etc. The IATF would like to recommend a different strategy, but the article didn't point out that new strategy (I am guessing there is no other strategy).

I work in direct health care in a large metropolitan hospital. We strive to save people's lives and discharge them in better health than when they entered. Some Covids come into the ICU and when they get better they are transferred to a regular care unit for the rest of their recuperation. For others the order is reversed and from the ICU their fate is the cold and lonely hospital morgue.

Lately we have become beleaguered by a spike in new Covid cases. A small anecdote explains the terrible situation. A guy runs away from a dog who is attacking him. He falls and sustains a head injury. He comes to the ER and placed on a stretcher awaiting treatment for his injuries. He is awake and alert.

However the ER is clogged by scores of individuals with the newly surging Covid. None of them had been vaccinated. The fellow with the head injury dutifully waits his turn. His mother notes that he is no longer awake and believes that he is sleeping. 4 hours later he is seen by the staff and we realize he is now comatose.

Now the hospital did nothing wrong. When assessing the walk-in patients the triage nurse correctly determined that the critically ill Covid patients had more immediate need than others. Perhaps they were at death's door.

In any event one cannot help the temptation to cast some blame on those unvaccinated infidels. Yet that is not our province to make moral judgements.

One of the hallmarks of our civilization is that we care for others, even jailed murderers and mongers.

The Rose. Having already had Covid why would I even entertain getting the jab, which doesn't stop one from contracting or spreading the pizza virus.

[QUOTE=DickBump;2600488]The Rose. Having already had Covid why would I even entertain getting the jab.[/QUOTE]

I can't speak for Rose but

Because you have a choice on your next entry to RP. You do want to go back to punter heaven and start enjoying some pinay action?

RP will for sure have entry requirements. You can get a taste already here [URL]https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ph/home/covid-19/ArrivingInThePH/EligiblePaxForTravelToPH[/URL].

There will be the bunch of unvaccinated horny guys at some immigration counter being denied entry and arguing the toss. You can join them and argue your case there.

And it's only going to get harder for the unvaccinated as governments see this as a big stick approach. (once again, please reserve your arguments for the RP immigration counter.).

How motivating is the thought of unli 21 yo filipina available for 24 x 7 BBBJ with CIM, CIP & CIA?

Free jab v Pussy holiday. I'm already vaccinated and eagerly checking the travel pages daily.

[QUOTE=BrizLad;2600508]

There will be the bunch of unvaccinated horny guys at some immigration counter being denied entry and arguing the toss. You can join them and argue your case there.

[/QUOTE]It won't even get to that. Soon no airline will take the reputational risk of being flying Petri dishes and delivering 400 newly infected passengers because they accepted the unvaccinated.

Have a look at the decimated cruise industry after numerous onboard outbreaks.

Article regarding chances of contracting Covid after vaccination.

[URL]https://www.nytimes.com/article/breakthrough-infections-covid-19-coronavirus.html?te=1&nl=updates-from-the-newsroom&emc=edit_ufn_20210904[/URL]

From the article:

[I]Dr. Balters team has recently collected surveillance data that give us a clearer picture of the difference in risk to the vaccinated and unvaccinated as the Delta variant surged from May 1 through July 25. They studied infections in 10,895 fully vaccinated people and 30,801 unvaccinated people. The data showed that:

The rate of infection in unvaccinated people is five times the rate of infection in vaccinated people. By the end of the study period, the age-adjusted incidence of Covid-19 among unvaccinated persons was 315.1 per 100,000 people over a seven-day period compared to 63.8 per 100,000 incidence rate among fully vaccinated people. (Age adjustment is a statistical method used so the data are representative of the general population.)

The rate of hospitalization among the vaccinated was 1 per 100,000 people. The age-adjusted hospitalization rate in unvaccinated persons was 29.4 per 100,000.

Older vaccinated people were most vulnerable to serious illness after a breakthrough infection. The median age of vaccinated people who were hospitalized for Covid was 64 years. Among unvaccinated people who were hospitalized, the median age was 49.[/I]

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From the same article, referencing this study:

[URL]https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21261295v1.full[/URL]

Regarding whether vaxxed persons can transmit to others (using viral load as indicator; Delta only):

[I]Another study from Singapore looked at vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected with the Delta variant. The researchers found that while viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated workers are similar at the onset of illness, the amount of virus declines more rapidly in the vaccinated after the first week, suggesting vaccinated people are infectious for a shorter period of time.[/I]

It kind of seems like we can go back after Sept 5th if we are vaccinated. Am I wrong? That would be fantastic.

[QUOTE=BrizLad;2600508]I can't speak for Rose but

Because you have a choice on your next entry to RP. You do want to go back to punter heaven and start enjoying some pinay action?

RP will for sure have entry requirements. You can get a taste already here [URL]https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ph/home/covid-19/ArrivingInThePH/EligiblePaxForTravelToPH[/URL].

There will be the bunch of unvaccinated horny guys at some immigration counter being denied entry and arguing the toss. You can join them and argue your case there.

And it's only going to get harder for the unvaccinated as governments see this as a big stick approach. (once again, please reserve your arguments for the RP immigration counter.).

How motivating is the thought of unli 21 yo filipina available for 24 x 7 BBBJ with CIM, CIP & CIA?

Free jab v Pussy holiday. I'm already vaccinated and eagerly checking the travel pages daily.[/QUOTE]

[URL]https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/09/04/2124833/philippine-airlines-files-bankruptcy?fbclid=IwAR1AaVdUD595o_ca7779sbusWX1RyRWhE-dr2WwtJyVMSP55fNshDDJSRF4[/URL]

I am surprised so few airlines have gone belly up. Anyway, this is just another nail into the mongering coffin.

I see no hope of banging LBFMs there for a long time (when I will definitely be past it). The first white trash to return would be the Ossies who have draconian lock down measures. Allowing Koreans have the keys to the candy store would lead to other issues when Covid outbreaks occur.

[QUOTE=FuriousGeorge;2600667]It kind of seems like we can go back after Sept 5th if we are vaccinated. Am I wrong? That would be fantastic.[/QUOTE]Depends on who are "we"? We = mongers NO. Mongers = tourist NO.

[QUOTE=FuriousGeorge;2600667]It kind of seems like we can go back after Sept 5th if we are vaccinated. Am I wrong? That would be fantastic.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Dg8787;2600762]Depends on who are "we"? We = mongers NO. Mongers = tourist NO.[/QUOTE][URL]https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ph/home/covid-19/ArrivingInThePH/EligiblePaxForTravelToPH[/URL]

Filipinos yes. Foreigners if they are: 1) The spouse or parent of a Filipino; 2) Dual citizen; 3) Foreign government worker (possible Embassy staff, or NGO, and just guessing); 4) Seafarers with 9 (c) visa; 5) Those with eligible certificates, RC or CRPC (unclear to me what those are); 6) Those with eligible visas (seems unclear what that is); 7) Investors with special authority (unclear again).

#6 above, eligible visas. It does mention the 9 (a) visa. I think that is the normal Embassy-granted, 59-day, pre-arrival visa? It does mention having to follow IATF rules:

[I]Conditions of the IATF-EID:

Must have a valid and existing visa at the time of entry unless otherwise stated in the table above.

With pre-booked accredited quarantine facility / hotel for at least 10 days at the traveler's expense*.

Must undergo RT-PCR testing on the 7th day of quarantine. Non-OFWs and non-Filipinos on PAL flights arriving in Manila will be swabbed by Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory for arrivals in NAIA Terminal 2, or by the Philippine Airport Diagnostics Laboratory for arrivals in NAIA Terminal 1. Those arriving in Laoag will be swabbed by Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center. *.

*For fully vaccinated travelers, whether in the Philippines or abroad, stayed exclusively in Green list countries / jursidictions / territories in the last fourteen (14) days prior to arrival in the Philippines, may only hold a 7-night confirmed booking on a facility-based quarantine and shall undergo an RT-PCR test on the 5th day of their quarantine stay. The vaccination status must be independently verified / confirmed by Philippine authorities as valid and authentic upon the traveler's arrival in the country.[/I]

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2600881][URL]https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/ph/home/covid-19/ArrivingInThePH/EligiblePaxForTravelToPH[/URL]

Filipinos yes. Foreigners if they are: 1) The spouse or parent of a Filipino; 2) Dual citizen; 3) Foreign government worker (possible Embassy staff, or NGO, and just guessing); 4) Seafarers with 9 (c) visa; 5) Those with eligible certificates, RC or CRPC (unclear to me what those are); 6) Those with eligible visas (seems unclear what that is); 7) Investors with special authority (unclear again).

#6 above, eligible visas. It does mention the 9 (a) visa. I think that is the normal Embassy-granted, 59-day, pre-arrival visa? It does mention having to follow IATF rules:

[I]Conditions of the IATF-EID:

Must have a valid and existing visa at the time of entry unless otherwise stated in the table above.

With pre-booked accredited quarantine facility / hotel for at least 10 days at the traveler's expense*.[/QUOTE]Should we understand that fully vaccinated can enter Phil but with a 7 days quarantine and PCR test on the 5th day?